Prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,243,839 and 3,765,055 disclose machines for killing poultry by cutting the jugular vein as the birds are transported through a killing station having a cutting means. The present invention seeks to improve on the cutting apparatuses and methods in these prior patents and others through provision of an apparatus and method which is more precise and more uniform in the operation of severing the jugular veins of fowl suspended heads down by their hocks on an overhead moving conveyor.
In accordance with the invention, at the cutting or killing station of the apparatus, the necks of birds are stretched and the heads of the birds are brought into sliding contact with an underlying spring-loaded pan structure which stabilizes the heads and assures vertical orientation thereof at the instant of cutting. Cutting occurs at the point of maximum neck stretch by an adjacent rotary blade which can be adjusted with precision across the neck axes of the birds. This particular method produces a much more efficient and uniform severing of the jugular vein near the base of the skull regardless of variations in the bird anatomy at that region.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following description.